Monday, October 31

Did anyone watch Family Guy last night? It was an episode about domestic violence. Quagmire's sister's boyfriend repeatedly beat her and she wouldn't leave him.

The episode was upsetting, but good. I felt they addressed the subject in the usual Family Guy way with off-color jokes and a lot of cartoon blood, yet kept me focused on how heinously disgusting a person is for abusing another.

I read Jezebel.com every once in a while, usually if someone forwards me a funny article. Today I decided to goof off, so I checked out the site on my own.

This article immediately caught my attention: Family Guy Hits Horrible New Low With Domestic Abuse Episode. Given the headline, I think you know what the writer thought about the show.

I completely disagreed with her and wrote my FIRST EVER COMMENT on a random op piece. I spoil the ending, so if you plan to watch it, do so before reading the below and the Jezebel article. Make your own judgment first!

I love Family Guy. For the first few minutes I was shocked by this episode, then admired McFarlane's and the writers' balls for taking on the subject matter.

I'm not sure why you didn't mention the ending. Quagmire, Joe, and Peter were so angry with Jeff that they took him to the woods to kill him. Jeff knocked out Joe and Peter, then beat and choked Quagmire. Quagmire recovered and ran Jeff over with his car.

While I obviously do not condone murder, it was clear to me the message is if a victim of abuse can't or won't help themselves, do everything you can to help them.

I agree with you they should have flashed a hotline number. I do not agree that this was a scary Halloween episode. What IS scary is that shows with Family Guy's fanbase do not use their popularity to encourage their viewers to think about serious issues such as this. Needless to say, it is even scarier that domestic abuse happens in the first place.